See also
- List of missions to the Moon
- LunaH-Map, a similar mission that is also part of the SIMPLEx program
| Mission type | Lunar Mapping |
|---|---|
| Operator | NASA |
| Website | trailblazer |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | Lunar Trailblazer |
| Spacecraft type | Small satellite |
| Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin |
| Launch mass | 200kg [1] |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | Q4 2024 (planned) [2] |
| Rocket | Falcon 9 Block 5 |
| Launch site | Kennedy, LC-39A |
| Contractor | SpaceX |
| Moon orbiter | |
Lunar Trailblazer is a planned small (class D) lunar orbiter, part of NASA's SIMPLEx program, that will detect and map water on the lunar surface to determine how its form, abundance, and location relate to geology. [3] Its mission is to aid in the understanding of lunar water and the Moon's water cycle. Lunar Trailblazer is currently slated to launch in 2024 as a secondary payload on the IM-2 mission. [4] The Principal Investigator (PI) of the mission is Bethany Ehlmann, a professor at Caltech. [5]
Lunar Trailblazer was selected to be part of NASA's SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) program in 2019. The goal of the planned mission is to use a small satellite to map water on the Moon. [6]
The mission has four scientific objectives: [3]
In addition, the spacecraft will search for good locations for future lunar landings.
Like other NASA's SIMPLEx missions, Lunar Trailblazer will launch as a "rideshare" with another NASA or commercial mission. As of July 2023, it is manifested to launch as a secondary payload on Intuitive Machines' IM-2 mission in 2024. [4] Originally it was going to launch with IMAP in 2025, but NASA found a different rideshare opportunity since the spacecraft was scheduled to be completed in 2022.
Lunar Trailblazer will orbit the Moon in a 100 km polar orbit. It will study water on the Moon using its two scientific instruments. [5]
Unshielded from the vacuum of space, lunar landscapes are exposed to full illumination from the Sun for about two weeks, and total darkness for another two weeks. The Moon's day—one full rotation—is equivalent to about twenty eight Earth days. Adding to the harshness of this surface environment, the Moon has almost no atmosphere and no magnetosphere to protect it from the Sun's radiation. So, the lunar surface undergoes extreme temperature swings every day and night. During the day, temperatures near the equator are well above boiling, up to 400 K, or 260 °F. [8] At night, these latitudes reach temperatures far below freezing (around 170 K/-150 °F at most). Any water that reaches the surface during the night would be expected to boil away during the day, or quickly sublime away in the low pressure.
On the Moon, there is no rainfall, but there are other ways that water can be delivered to the surface: micrometeorite impacts can carry water from space or excavate water from below the surface, and potentially, water could be created directly on surface minerals by implantation of hydrogen from the solar wind. [9] Still, until very recently, scientists did not expect water to be present on most of the surface of the Moon.
In 1998, Feldman et al. [10] showed that water ice might be present in permanently shadowed craters at the poles of the Moon. They detected the presence of hydrogen in the upper half-meter (1.5 feet) of the lunar surface, which was most likely evidence of water ice. This discovery was debated in the scientific community as missions to study the lunar surface waned and further data was unavailable—until, in 2009, LCROSS (Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite) jettisoned one of its empty propellant tanks in a controlled collision to impact an area of the Moon that lay in permanent shadow to test for the presence of ice. When the tank hit, it created a plume that was observed by both the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) and the LCROSS spacecraft as well as telescopes on Earth. Tremendous amounts of data were captured from the observed plume, including signatures of water ice and other volatiles. [11]
Also in 2009, researchers reviewing data from three separate spacecraft—Chandrayaan-1, [12] Deep Impact, [13] and Cassini [14] —extracted a hydration signature throughout the whole lunar surface. This was a surprise to the lunar science community, particularly because this meant that water may be present on boiling-hot sunlit portions of the Moon. However, the instruments gathering the spectral data weren't designed to look for water, and did not have enough resolution in the 3-micron band of infrared light for researchers to distinguish between the absorption features of hydroxyl (OH), H2O, and water ice. Lunar Trailblazer's instruments are specifically designed to detect and distinguish between these three forms of water. [15]
The Lunar Trailblazer spacecraft will be built and tested by Lockheed Martin. It will use two deployable solar arrays, which provide 280W of power, and a chemical propulsion system. With its solar panels fully extended it will be 3.5 meters long. The spacecraft will weigh 200 kg. The spacecraft has two science instruments, High Resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) and Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM). HVM3 is provided by JPL; LTM is provided by the University of Oxford. [3]
There are two scientific instruments on the Lunar Trailblazer satellite, totaling 20 kg. The High Resolution Volatiles and Minerals Moon Mapper (HVM3) will gather and map shortwave infrared spectral data of the lunar surface. Simultaneously, Lunar Thermal Mapper (LTM) will acquire midwave infrared data. [3] Together, the two instruments will create a simultaneous map of the surface mineral composition, temperature, and forms of lunar water, [16] each measuring at least one thousand targets on the lunar surface over the course of the satellite's one-year primary mission. [17]
The HVM3 instrument was developed by the Maturation of Instruments for Solar System Exploration (MatISSE) program, and is being manufactured by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. [3] It is a pushbroom short-wave infrared imaging spectrometer based on the design of the M3 instrument, which was one of the instruments to first find evidence of hydration in sunlit regions of the Moon. [17] HVM3 has a spectral range from 0.6 to 3.6 microns—it is designed to work with high sensitivity (10 nm resolution) right at the center of water's key wavelength region in infrared light (from 2.5 to 3.5 microns) with high enough spectral resolution to differentiate between forms of water. [17] [3] Each pixel in an image from HVM3 will cover 50–90 meters of the lunar surface. [3]
The LTM instrument is being designed and built by the University of Oxford. [3] With eleven narrow channels between seven and ten microns and resolution smaller than 0.5 microns, it acquires multispectral images to characterize the Si-O stretch in silicates to derive mineralogical composition. [3] At the same time, using the four broadband channels from 6 up to 100 microns, it derives surface temperature with a precision of 5K (9 °F/5 °C) in the range of 110-400K (-262 to 260 °F/-163 to 126 °C). [3] [18] The pixel size of LTM is 40–70 meters. [3]
2001 Mars Odyssey is a robotic spacecraft orbiting the planet Mars. The project was developed by NASA, and contracted out to Lockheed Martin, with an expected cost for the entire mission of US$297 million. Its mission is to use spectrometers and a thermal imager to detect evidence of past or present water and ice, as well as study the planet's geology and radiation environment. It is hoped that the data Odyssey obtains would help answer the question of whether life existed on Mars and create a risk-assessment of the radiation that future astronauts on Mars might experience. It also acts as a relay for communications between the Curiosity rover, and previously the Mars Exploration Rovers and Phoenix lander, to Earth. The mission was named as a tribute to Arthur C. Clarke, evoking the name of his and Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Lunar Prospector was the third mission selected by NASA for full development and construction as part of the Discovery Program. At a cost of $62.8 million, the 19-month mission was designed for a low polar orbit investigation of the Moon, including mapping of surface composition including lunar hydrogen deposits, measurements of magnetic and gravity fields, and study of lunar outgassing events. The mission ended July 31, 1999, when the orbiter was deliberately crashed into a crater near the lunar south pole, after the presence of hydrogen was successfully detected.
The Lunar Precursor Robotic Program (LPRP) is a NASA program that uses robotic spacecraft to prepare for future crewed missions to the Moon. The program gathers data such as lunar radiation, surface imaging, areas of scientific interest, temperature and lighting conditions, and potential resource identification.
Chandrayaan-1 was the first Indian lunar probe under the Chandrayaan programme. It was launched by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October 2008, and operated until August 2009. The mission included an orbiter and an impactor. India launched the spacecraft using a PSLV-XL rocket on 22 October 2008 at 00:52 UTC from Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota, Andhra Pradesh. The mission was a major boost to India's space program, as India researched and developed indigenous technology to explore the Moon. The vehicle was inserted into lunar orbit on 8 November 2008.
Cabeus is a lunar impact crater that is located about 100 km (62 mi) from the south pole of the Moon. At this location the crater is seen obliquely from Earth, and it is almost perpetually in deep shadow due to lack of sunlight. Hence, not much detail can be seen of this crater, even from orbit. Through a telescope, this crater appears near the southern limb of the Moon, to the west of the crater Malapert and to the south-southwest of Newton.
Lunar water is water that is present on the Moon. Diffuse water molecules in low concentrations can persist at the Moon's sunlit surface, as discovered by the SOFIA observatory in 2020. Gradually, water vapor is decomposed by sunlight, leaving hydrogen and oxygen lost to outer space. Scientists have found water ice in the cold, permanently shadowed craters at the Moon's poles. Water molecules are also present in the extremely thin lunar atmosphere.
The Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) was a robotic spacecraft operated by NASA. The mission was conceived as a low-cost means of determining the nature of hydrogen detected at the polar regions of the Moon. Launched immediately after discovery of lunar water by Chandrayaan-1, the main LCROSS mission objective was to further explore the presence of water in the form of ice in a permanently shadowed crater near a lunar polar region. It was successful in confirming water in the southern lunar crater Cabeus.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is a NASA robotic spacecraft currently orbiting the Moon in an eccentric polar mapping orbit. Data collected by LRO have been described as essential for planning NASA's future human and robotic missions to the Moon. Its detailed mapping program is identifying safe landing sites, locating potential resources on the Moon, characterizing the radiation environment, and demonstrating new technologies.
The lunar south pole is the southernmost point on the Moon. It is of interest to scientists because of the occurrence of water ice in permanently shadowed areas around it. The lunar south pole region features craters that are unique in that the near-constant sunlight does not reach their interior. Such craters are cold traps that contain fossil record of hydrogen, water ice, and other volatiles dating from the early Solar System. In contrast, the lunar north pole region exhibits a much lower quantity of similarly sheltered craters.
Europa Clipper is an interplanetary mission in development by NASA comprising an orbiter. Planned for launch in October 2024, the spacecraft is being developed to study the Galilean moon Europa through a series of flybys while in orbit around Jupiter.
Journey to Enceladus and Titan (JET) is an astrobiology mission concept to assess the habitability potential of Enceladus and Titan, moons of Saturn.
Lunar Flashlight was a low-cost CubeSat lunar orbiter mission to explore, locate, and estimate size and composition of water ice deposits on the Moon for future exploitation by robots or humans.
Lunar IceCube is a NASA nanosatellite orbiter mission that was intended to prospect, locate, and estimate amount and composition of water ice deposits on the Moon for future exploitation. It was launched as a secondary payload mission on Artemis 1, the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS), on 16 November 2022. As of February 2023 it's unknown whether NASA team has contact with satellite or not.
Lunar Polar Hydrogen Mapper, or LunaH-Map, was one of the 10 CubeSats launched with Artemis 1 on 16 November 2022. Along with Lunar IceCube and LunIR, LunaH-Map will help investigate the possible presence of water-ice on the Moon. Arizona State University began development of LunaH-Map after being awarded a contract by NASA in early 2015. The development team consists of about 20 professionals and students led by Craig Hardgrove, the principal investigator. The mission is a part of NASA's SIMPLEx program.
Resource Prospector is a cancelled mission concept by NASA of a rover that would have performed a survey expedition on a polar region of the Moon. The rover was to attempt to detect and map the location of volatiles such as hydrogen, oxygen and lunar water which could foster more affordable and sustainable human exploration to the Moon, Mars, and other Solar System bodies.
The Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), officially Danuri, is South Korea's first lunar orbiter. The orbiter, its science payload and ground control infrastructure are technology demonstrators. The orbiter will also be tasked with surveying lunar resources such as water ice, uranium, helium-3, silicon, and aluminium, and produce a topographic map to help select future lunar landing sites.
Bethany List Ehlmann is an American geologist and a professor of Planetary Science at California Institute of Technology. A leading researcher in planetary geology, Ehlmann is also the President of The Planetary Society, Director of the Keck Institute for Space Studies, and a Research Scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
VIPER is a lunar rover developed by NASA, and currently planned to be delivered to the surface of the Moon in November 2024. The rover will be tasked with prospecting for lunar resources in permanently shadowed areas in the lunar south pole region, especially by mapping the distribution and concentration of water ice. The mission builds on a previous NASA rover concept called Resource Prospector, which was cancelled in 2018.
The International-Mars Ice Mapper (I-MIM) mission is a proposed Mars orbiter being developed by NASA in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI). As the mission concept evolves, there may be opportunities for other space agency and commercial partners to join the mission. The goal of the orbiter is the quantification of extent and volume of water ice in non-polar regions of Mars. The results are intended to support future Mars missions, especially with respect to the search for habitable environments and accessible In situ resource utilization (ISRU) resources. The International-Mars Ice Mapper is an "exploration precursor mission", comparing it to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission. The mission was envisioned to be launched as early as 2026. However, in March 2022, it was revealed in its fiscal year 2023 budget proposal that the US government would terminate NASA financial support for the Mars Ice Mapper, casting the project's future into uncertainty.
Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) is a planetary exploration program operated by NASA. The program funds small, low-cost spacecraft for stand-alone planetary exploration missions. These spacecraft are intended to launch as secondary payloads on other missions and are riskier than Discovery or New Frontiers missions.